I’ve been to Paris, it certainly has its moments. The French love their intellectuals, can’t pick up after their dogs, and can speak without the slightest trace of irony about ‘race relations in America’ whilst their suburbs burn in rings around their cities. (Anyone else notice how so many French suggest that the Blacks and Arabs are impossible to assimilate into French society and can never be ‘truly’ French…until selection time for the national football squad?)
Well, the Japanese still love France. In fact, they love it so much–and have so idealized the Parisian experience–that when they arrive, it makes them ill.
From Reuters:
“Around a dozen Japanese tourists a year need psychological treatment after visiting Paris as the reality of unfriendly locals and scruffy streets clashes with their expectations, a newspaper reported on Sunday.“A third of patients get better immediately, a third suffer relapses and the rest have psychoses,” Yousef Mahmoudia, a psychologist at the Hotel-Dieu hospital, next to Notre Dame cathedral, told the newspaper Journal du Dimanche.
Accustomed to white gloves and hovering sales people in their home country, the Japanese find the attitude of the French to be, well, sickening:
“Fragile travellers can lose their bearings. When the idea they have of the country meets the reality of what they discover it can provoke a crisis,” psychologist Herve Benhamou told the paper.
“In Japanese shops, the customer is king, whereas here assistants hardly look at them … People using public transport all look stern, and handbag snatchers increase the ill feeling.” A Japanese woman, Aimi, told the paper:
“For us, Paris is a dream city. All the French are beautiful and elegant … And then, when they arrive, the Japanese find the French character is the complete opposite of their own.
I’ve traveled in Paris with YJ many times. It’s never made us physically or mentally ill. (Though I’ve had some experiences in the French archives that nearly led to me strangling the archivist. Story for another time.) YJ has an interesting take on the whole thing. She argues that the French can be polite (especially compared to service people back home in China) but that they never truly mean it. The smile hides a lie. I might argue that in some ways Parisians are just more honest than other French people. The Parisian shrug demonstrates, without hypocrisy, that they could care less if you lived, died, or turned into a big pile of crap right in front of them. In China, bad service takes the form of petulant foot dragging–like a child forced to clean their room. In France, it’s an existential battle: with so little time on this earth, and with life so meaningless, why should I let a customer carve out any portion of my being just because they want something?
The fact that this makes the Japanese ill, in the end, probably says more about Japan than it ever could about France.
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Top right picture: Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris 2005
7 responses so far ↓
1 The Humanaught // Oct 23, 2006 at 9:40 pm
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went to Paris. I had all those ‘romantic’ images, but had also heard that the place was complete trash. As it turned out, I quite liked it.
The grittiness off it added a tinge of reality to that postcard-like image I had from movies and such. Gave it more character.
I was fortunate in that I got to stay with a local, and so could live the double life of tourist and “guest”… and I think that’s perhaps easier to swallow.
I do agree that the “getting sick” thing speaks volumes more about Japan and the Japanese than Paris or Parisians.
2 花崗齋之愚公 // Oct 23, 2006 at 9:54 pm
I’ve traveled back and forth between the US and France many times in the last two years. When I first went I had a really bad attitude about the whole experience. But now, I actually kind of enjoy going there. Admittedly, I spend most of my time in the Bordeaux region, but even Paris, I have to say, has its charm. Having said that, I will now dunk my head in a vat of champagne while gargling hot melted cheese…
3 無名 - wu ming // Oct 23, 2006 at 11:24 pm
paris, bah. i once met some poor japanese tourist lost in vietnam who had not taken the new microbe environment well. guy looked wrecked.
4 舒 杰 瑞 // Oct 24, 2006 at 12:11 am
Forget Paris. Go to Japan and try to find a litter bin within a 50-mile radius. It’s nearly impossible. Why? Supposedly, this reduces littering by discouraging people to buy goods that have disposable parts. Which brings to mind the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode with the chicken kebab stick…amazing.
5 Chris // Oct 24, 2006 at 2:44 am
I had a sort of opposite Paris experience. It was a holiday–May Day 2003–so that may have skewed things for the better.
I came in with low expectations, having heard stories of dirty streets and unfriendly people. Yet, when I got lost the first day (as I do everywhere) an old man saw me looking at a map and said in perfect English, Do you need help? You are American?” Down the road, after another wrong turn, a middle-aged guy walking with his daughter (baguette and all) put us back on the path.
And this was two months in to the Iraq war, so Americans weren’t so popular. Again, maybe it was the holiday, and maybe it was the low expectations, but I came away with a better impression than most of my friends who go.
I just spent way too much money.
6 Kristen // Oct 25, 2006 at 8:51 am
That’s so funny! I can totally understand why the Japanese were shocked by the treatment they received in Paris. Most Parisians I encountered were rude, with a few exceptions. I went on a short trip to Paris while I was studying abroad (in 2001) and found that Parisians fit into one of roughly three categories: old people (who remember Normandy and consequently were very friendly), middle-aged people (who were not alive during WWII and thus were very rude to me and my friend), and the young people (who watch American TV and think that Americans are cool). When we were walking along the Rue de Rivoli from our hostel to the Louvre, this little old man came up to us, grabbed our faces, and kissed us on both cheeks, saying “You are American! Do you want me to take a picture of you?” He was really sweet and took a picture of us right outside the entrance to the Louvre. I will never forget how happy he was to have seen some Americans. Anyway, these three categories were just my experience…did anyone else get the same thing?
P.S. Thanks for commenting on my post!
7 花崗齋之愚公 // Oct 25, 2006 at 12:29 pm
@ Kristen,
Thanks for your comment and welcome to the Studio. I agree about the generational divide, you see some of the same thing in China with generations reacting to foreigners differently. (Though you could also say there are are different reactions based on class, location, etc. as well.)
I like your blog a lot. Good luck with your classes.
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